


someone has to bring you down to earth

by lostin_space



Series: Wheel Of Crack Wednesday [17]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 03:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18886645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: isobel finds comfort in an unlikely placetitle: falling in love by aj abdullah





	someone has to bring you down to earth

Isobel Evans sat in the Wild Pony at two AM for the eighth night in a row. **  
**

The first few nights, Maria had ignored her.  There was something odd about having a six foot tall, model-esque diva sitting in the back of a bar alone for one night, much less multiple nights.  She always looked lost in thought to the point not even the men that were wasted beyond recognition bothered to hit on her.  She was just alone, sipping on one drink for the entire night until they closed.

Eventually, Maria had begun to feel a little concerned.  She hated being concerned for someone like Isobel who really hadn’t proven herself to be worthy of pity, but she couldn’t help it.  Someone was in need and, even if that person made her life hell back in high school, she found herself drawn to the table once she closed for the night.

Maria sat across from her and stared for a moment.  Isobel stared right back, her eyes looking a little more than lifeless.  Maria could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen Isobel without one of her three alien men attached to her hip.  Even though both Max and Noah were gone, it didn’t make sense that she was alone like this so often.  Isobel Evans didn’t  _do_  vulnerable.

“Does Guerin know about your little drinking problem?” Maria asked playfully, hoping to earn at least some sort of positive reaction from the life-sized Barbie.  It didn’t even get a sarcastic smile.

“Why are you talking to me, Deluca?” Isobel asked dryly.  Maria bit down on her lip as she absorbed all that was Isobel.  She’d never gotten this close to her before without constant bickering or just Isobel keeping up her walls so high, Maria couldn’t see in if she tried.  But today they were down and it was saddening on a deep level.  She was just shrouded in loneliness to the point Maria wouldn’t be shocked if it was causing her physical pain.

Isobel usually, even on bad days, usually exuded some type of vibrant red.  She was a bitch to everyone regardless of how much power she held socially, but that never seemed to take away from her very clear positives that showed to anyone who paid attention.  No amount of high school hatred or residual anger over Rosa could make Maria miss the fierce loyalty, protectiveness, and pure  _strength_  that made up Isobel Evans.  Yet lately it seemed to be infected, each day it got a little darker, a little less vibrant.

Today it was so dark there was almost no red left.

“Look, I understand how you’re feeling,” Maria said, trying to force as much empathy in her voice that she could manage.

Isobel moved her eyes up slowly and, like her aura, they were damn near black with anguish.  Maria prepared herself not to take to heart anything Isobel was about to hurl towards her.

“Do you?  Did you find out that your husband had been using and manipulating you for a decade so he could commit murders?  Do you have to deal with the fact you never saw it or even considered it?  Do you still  _miss_  him, or, just, miss having  _someone_?” Isobel asked, tears brimming her eyes.  “Or do you get how it feels to lose your brother?  To feel someone who you are so  _linked_  to just disappear?  I can’t feel him, Maria, I can’t…”

Maria slipped out of her side of the booth and moved to Isobel’s, silently wrapping her arms around the taller woman’s shoulders.  She pulled her in, stroking her hair back.  Surprisingly, Isobel let her comfort her.

“I meant I understand how it feels to be lonely,” Maria said softly, wiping a stray tear that managed to slip down Isobel’s cheek.  “I had to put my mom in a nursing home a while ago.  It was for the best and I still go see her all the time, but everything feels so empty without her.  It’s like I still expect to hear her walking around the house or singing in the shower.  It’s so quiet sometimes I feel paranoid.”

“I hate it! I hate that I miss him in the house! I’ve never lived alone before and, and it’s exactly like you said.  It’s horrible, empty.  I know that he’s not who I thought he was, but I still miss him just being there. It’s driving me insane.” Isobel vented, her voice cracking and Maria held her a little tighter.  She’d be lying if she said she didn’t find comfort in the fact someone else got it.  For a while, she thought she was just being dramatic.

“Is that why you keep coming here?” Maria asked, but she didn’t expect an actual answer.  She knew that’s exactly why.  Maria did the same thing.  Once her mother was gone, there wasn’t anything to go home to except emptiness.  She’d rather be someplace where she could convince herself she wasn’t alone.

“I hate it, but I don’t have any options.  I can’t stay with Michael, he’s too wrapped up in Lover Boy and government conspiracies.  I can’t stay with Max because he  _isn’t there_. Rosa’s back, I can’t stay with Liz.  I’m just…”

“Lonely.”

Isobel huffed a laugh but nodded.  There was no denying it, not when she was being hugged by a psychic and crying.  Still, it took her a moment before she slid her arms to wrap around Maria and pull her a little closer.  

It was odd how comforting it could be to hold Isobel Evans.  Maria couldn’t think of the last time she’d ever felt anything positive towards the woman.  They existed in two different realities.  Isobel was a woman of status.  She organized events for a living and everyone in town knew her by name.   Maria had managed to fade into nightlife and went unnoticed by most people that weren’t drunks or spiritual, pill-popping housewives that wanted a reading.  They actually couldn’t get more different socially.

But they were both strong. And they both had lost the person they came home to at the end of the night.

“You can stay with me.  You know, if you want.” Maria offered as the motion of smoothing down Isobel’s hair became a reflex.  “You could sleep in my room, I could sleep in my mom’s.”

Isobel laughed, “You’d really want me, the person you hate, to be sleeping in your bed?”

“I don’t hate you,” Maria said with a small smile, settling more into the booth as Isobel sunk to lay her head on her chest.  “I really don’t.  Actually, I almost like you now that I see you’re actually human.” Isobel shook her head, but Maria could see she was smiling.  That was better than crying or wallowing over a man who didn’t deserve it.  She deserved to smile.

“Not exactly human, but thanks,” Isobel said, a familiar confidence making an appearance.  Still, she didn’t move.

“Still, the offer stands.  It’d be nice to have someone around.  And fuck only being able to rely on the men in your life, Isobel.” Maria mentioned, leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling.  She took a heavy breath and Isobel’s grip tightened around her.  Maria smiled.

“You’re right.  Fuck them.  I mean, I love Max and Michael.  But… fuck relying on them.” Isobel decided.

They stayed silent for a little longer than either of them expected.  It was just comforting to not be alone for once, especially sharing that space with someone who understood it better than either could describe with words.  Maria had gone too long in her own head and putting up a front to help the people she loved.  It was nice to just let shit happen.

She just didn’t expect it to be with Isobel Evans.

“So, it’s a real offer?” Isobel asked softly.  Maria smiling a little wider than she expected.

“Absolutely.  I’ll drive.”

**Author's Note:**

> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


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